Blast furnace cooling plate



Feb. 23, 1943.

H. F. DOBSCHA BLAST FURNACE COOLING PLATE I Filed Aug. 1, 1940IIIIIIIIIA IIIIIIIII/IIYIIIII 4 5 w w p f W M 7 a Patented Feb. 23, 1943UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BLAST FURNACE COOLING PLATE Herman F.Dobscha, North Braddock, Pa. Application August 1 1940, Serial No.349,260

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cooling elements for blast furnace walls, andmore particularly to a novel design of cooling plate having two separateand independent compartments in which the cooling medium is circulated.

Double compartment cooling plates of various designs have long been usedfor controlling the temperature of blast furnace walls. Usually thedouble compartment is provided by a front portion and a rear portion.The purpose of such construction is that in the event that the forwardend of the plate, which is subjected to the greatest heating effect andto abrasive action by the stock, becomes damaged, some degree of coolingeffect may be retained by operation'of the rear portion. To obtainbetter heat exchange, the cooling plates are usually provided with asystem of baffles positioned within the front and v usually employed asa cooling medium can economically be given only a limited amount ofconditioning before using it in the cooling system. The hardconstituents of the water, to-

gether with silt and other particles which maybe entrained therein,become deposited upon the interior surfaces of the plates and bycumulative action, a heavy layer of such material is rapidly built up.In the prior designs, this deposition is greatest upon the front portionof the double compartment. cooling plates at which points thetemperature of the plate surface is much higher. The scale formationaccumulates similar to that observed in water tube boiler installationswhich become encrusted with scale. As the quantity of water required foreach cooling plate is usually on the order of to 40 gallons per minute,there is a practical limit to the amount of straining which can be done.

Consequently, when the necessary water is 0btained from a source such asa river, a large quantity of silt and sand is carried by the coolincludea contiguous channel which extends rearwardly at the side of the plate.Thus, both the.

the major portion of the cooling effect is re-' tained after failure ofthe front compartment. Another object of my invention is to provide acooling plate constructed and arranged in the specific manner herein setforth, so that the casting practice is simplified.

These and other objects of my invention will be apparent in thefollowing description, considered in conjunction with the accompanyinging water and deposited in the cooling plate interior.

The front compartments of older designs also drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a blast furnace wall showingthe cooling plates installed therein.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section of my improved cooling plate.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section on line III-,-III of Figure 2.

Figure 4'is a section on line IV-IV of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in Figure. 1 a furnace wall 2in which is installed a plurality of cooling plates. Each of theimproved plates 3 comprises a one-piece casting usually formed of copperor bronze, having top, bottom, front, rear, side andtintermediate walls.Near the front end of the plate 3, the intermediate wall 5 forms theforward or nose compartment N. Extending. rearwardly from the partition5 is anintegral vertical rib 6 which, in conjunction with a pair 'ofsimilar ribs 1 extending forwardly from the rear wall 8 of the plate,forms a system of longitudinally extending baflles for the rearcompartment R.

The rear wall 8 is provided with two pairs of holes 9 and ill, in spacedrelation between the baflies l and the side-walls ll of the plate. Theouter pair of holes, 99, is threaded to receive respectively a watersupply pipe I! and a water exit pipe, l3. The inner pair of holes,l0lli, are smooth or unthreaded, as shown, and are of the proper size topermit the insertion therethrough of a. water supply pipe I4 and a waterexit pipe IS. A pair of holes l6-l6 is provided in the partitioneliminate 5 and these holes are threaded to receive the forward ends ofthe pipes I4 and I5.

The forward or nose compartment N of my improved plate is ofcomparatively shallow depth and volume in comparison to the similarspace in prior designs of plates. While it is unnecessary to maintainany particular ratio between thecross-section of the water supply pipesand the transverse section of the nose compartment, I prefer to usesupply and return pipes which have a cross-sectional area of about percent to per cent of that of the transverse nose section N. By so doing,I have found that using 20 to gallons of water per minute at a pressureof about 20 pounds, I will obtain a sufficient degree of scouring actionin the nose compartment to keep the with undiminished force and to movewith a turbulent scouringaction to the exit pipe l5.

Heretofore, the provision of battles has complicated the casting ofdouble compartment cooling plates, and it is necessary, in the priordesigns, to cast the plates flat, that is to say, with the greaterdimensions in a horizontal plane. The result of such prior practice isthat frequently the nose portion of the plate is cast in non-uniformthickness. Since it is this portion of the plate which is subjected toabrasive action and directly exposed to the highest temperature, failureof the prior art plate is often attributable to this condition ofnon-uniform thickness of the nose portion.

In the plate of my invention, the longitudinal disposition of thebafiles 6 and 1 and the overall design of the plate is such that theplate may be cast upright, that is, with its baflles vertically disposedand the nose portion at the bottom of the mold. A solid dense noseportion is thereby obtained, and the use of anchors, required in priorart constructions, is eliminated.

I claim:

1. A cooling element comprising abody having top, bottom, front, rearand intermediate and side walls defining a comparatively small forwardcompartment and an independent comparatively large rear compartment, apipe passing through the rear wall and screwed into the intermediatewall for impinging a cooling medium directly against the front wall ofsaid forward compartment and means for circulating a cooling medium insaid rear compartment, a plurality of bafiles integral with the top andbottom walls of said body and extending longitudinally in the lattercompartment, and being of less length than the longitudinal dimensionbetween said rear wall and said intermediate Wall.

2. A cooling element comprising a cast metal body having a comparativelysmall forward compartment and a separate compartment of materiallylarger volume to the rear thereof, respective inlet and outlet pipescommunicating with 'the forward compartment for impinging a coolingmedium directly against the front wall thereof and for discharging thecooling medium, said pipes passing through the rear wall of said rearcompartment and firmly secured in the rear wall of said forwardcompartment, and respective baffies extending forwardly from the rearwall of said rear compartment and rearwardlyirom the rear wall of saidforward compartment.

3. A cooling element of the character described. comprising a shallowmetallic body having top and bottom walls, side walls integraltherewith, a forward end wall and an intermediate wall integral withsaid upper and lower and side walls, said forward end wall and saidintermediate wall defining with said top, bottom and side walls aforward compartment of comparatively small volume, a rear wall spaced aconsiderable distance from the intermediate wall and defining with thetop, bottom and side walls a rear compartment of considerably largervolume than the forward compartment, respective inlet and outlet pipescommunicating with the said rear compartment, other inlet and outletpipes having smooth unthreaded portions where they extend through saidrear compartment, the ends thereof being threaded into said intermediatewall, said pipes being effective to provide for the rapid circulation ofa cooling medium through said forward com-

